Seven years after she was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer, Duncan Leatherdale talks to club singer Patricia Greensmith about her efforts to battle the illness and cope with its aftermath

TRISH GREENSMITH has a tree in her garden. Last week she tied a pink ribbon to one of its branches, the seventh to adorn the apple tree behind her home in Willington, County Durham.

Each ribbon marks another year that Trish has beaten breast cancer.

The 52-year-old did not think she would even get to place one pink sash on her tree.

She said: “I think everyone who has been diagnosed with cancer feels that way, they maybe do not expect to live.

“Several friends I made during treatment who had the same sort of cancer I do have very sadly died.

“I did not think I would last a year, let alone seven, but my husband Ronnie has always said different.

“When I tied the new one on last week, he said we will see at least another 10 on there.”

Ronnie had hated the idea of getting an apple tree due to their deep invasive roots, but when his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007 he had a change of heart.

Trish said: “I had come home from hospital one day and there was this tiny tree in the garden, it looked like a walking stick, it looked dead to be honest.

“It has been a childhood dream of mine to have an apple tree in my garden but Ronnie always said no.

“Then all of a sudden there it was, he had bought it from Morrisons.”

THE tree has flourished, much like Trish’s charity, the Chyrelle Addams Cancer Support Trust, which she founded days after her diagnosis.

She said: “I needed something to keep my mind off the cancer and the treatment, the charity just seemed like the obvious thing to do.”

Since its inception, the charity, which is named after Trish’s club singer stage name, has raised more than £200,000 to buy hospital equipment to be used in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

Patients in a number of the North-East’s hospitals will be using equipment bought through the charity, small plaques in the wards revealing only a glimpse of the good work Trish and her bevy of volunteers have done.

The Chyrelle Addams Cancer Support Trust has opened a support centre in her hometown to help others going through their own battles with the illness.

And last year they bought a caravan at Crimdon Dene Holiday Park on the Durham coast which is available for cancer patients and their families who want to get away.

Trish said: “The caravan is doing really well, it is amazing how needed it was.”

But all of these efforts do not come cheap, the charity needs to raise £3,500 a year for the site fees alone.

Trish said: “The main effort has always been to buy medical equipment for the hospitals and I always worry that one day someone will come to me and say they need such and such an item and the money won’t be there. What we really need is a very kind rich person who will cover the site fees or even just make a donation.

“By supporting the charity they will be supporting people who are battling cancer in the North East.”

Her friends and supporters call Trish an inspiration and something of a hero.

She has won numerous awards for her efforts, and while acknowledging the pride she gets from these, Trish always maintains her focus. She said: “It has always been about the charity helping other people who are going through this awful experience. That is why we keep doing what we are doing.”

There is also a blue ribbon tied to Trish’s tree which is in memory of her beloved 40-year-old African Grey parrot Jacko who died from cancer.

He is also buried beneath the tree, another reminder if one were needed about the devastating affect cancer can have.

Trish is using her own experiences to help others.

And as her charity grows, so does the supermarket- bought apple tree planted by a loving husband.

The Chyrelle Addams Cancer Support Trust will be packing bags in Tesco at St Helen Auckland on Saturday, June 14.

M&CO in Bishop Auckland will hold a fashion show in aid of the charity on June 30 at 6.30pm, tickets cost £1 and models are being sought.

For more information about the charity, visit chyrelleaddams.co.uk